19 May 2011
The government’s plans for earlier treatment of psychotic mental illness will not be possible without funding safeguards, a report has found.
The NHS Confederation's Mental Health Network says there is ‘compelling’ evidence that greater use of early intervention practices – the detection and treatment of psychosis during the critical early phase of illness – could save up to £40m.
However, in a briefing, Early Intervention in psychosis services, the confederation says these savings might not be made as funding is being ‘crowded out’ by short-term financial pressures within the NHS.
Early intervention involves identifying people aged between 14 and 35 who are experiencing a first episode of psychotic illness and providing dedicated follow-up treatment. It has been found to help mental illness patients recover meaningful lives and it is a key tenet of the government’s mental health strategy, No health without mental health, published in February.
The confederation says early treatment could save up to £40m a year through reduced costs of hospital admission and unemployment, but this ‘invest to save’ approach is not happening.
Many NHS mental health trusts are merging their services with their general community mental health teams to make savings.
Steve Shrubb, director of the Mental Health Network, said that while this change was ‘understandable’, key ingredients of the early intervention model must be preserved, including specialist staff to provide a range of psychosocial interventions and anti-psychotic medications. These are tailored to the needs of young people with a view to facilitating recovery.
Shrubb said: ‘We need to be clear that there is an important challenge to mental health providers and commissioners in this report to make sure that any decision to redesign their community and early intervention in psychosis teams draws on the evidence base and safeguards the important functions and outcomes of EIP that make them so effective.’
He added that the funding situation will be more pressing if the government’s planned changes to the NHS, introducing GP-led commissioning in place of primary care trusts, go ahead. He said that ‘incentives’ would be needed to ensure that the GP consortiums back the early intervention schemes.
